Studying at York
Lost in a Book: Travel & Narrative in the Renaissance - ENG00086H
Module summary
From shipwrecks to pirates, from the discovery of unknown lands to reunions with long-lost lovers, the state of being lost has long vexed protagonists and inspired authors. In this module, we’ll explore loss and being lost as fundamental conditions of both the production, and interpretation, of narrative in the Renaissance. Focusing especially on romance, that nebulous and unwieldy form, we’ll consider what the fictional representation of ‘wrong turns’ (literal and metaphorical) tells us about early modern story-telling, ethics, and New World exploration.
We’ll therefore contextualize our examination of early modern literary texts with readings from historical accounts of voyages and cross-cultural encounters and explore how being lost would have been both a familiar literary convention inherited from the ancient and medieval worlds and a condition made newly meaningful in light of expansive global discoveries. We’ll be attentive too to our own position as readers lost – in good ways and bad – in such texts, and how being lost might structure, or hinder, learning and the acquisition of knowledge.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Autumn Term 2022-23 |
Module aims
This module aims to introduce students to the centrality of ‘being lost’ as a literary and intellectual phenomenon in the Renaissance and to familiarize students with the genre of romance and its indebtedness to epic and travel narrative. We’ll do that by exploring the value of reading across literary and non-literary texts and to reading with an eye to historical context. Finally, the module aims to cultivate an attentiveness to our own habits and practices of reading narrative - to our experiences of being lost in books.
Module learning outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to
- Demonstrate an advanced understanding of and engagement with a range of early modern romances, travel narratives, and epics.
- Demonstrate an advanced understanding of and engagement with the concept of loss as a literary and intellectual trope and with problems and questions raised by the genre of romance and the discovery of the New world
- Evaluate key debates within the relevant critical fields.
- Produce independent arguments and ideas which demonstrate an advanced proficiency in critical thinking, research, and writing skills.
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
You will be given the opportunity to hand in a 1000 word formative essay in the term in which the module is taught (usually in the week 7 seminar). Material from this essay may be re-visited in your summative essay and it is therefore an early chance to work through material that might be used in assessed work. This essay will be submitted in hard copy and your tutor will annotate it and return it two weeks later (usually in your week 9 seminar). Summary feedback will be uploaded to your eVision account. All students will have the opportunity to give an in-class individual presentation during a seminar in weeks 2-9.
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
- You will receive feedback on all assessed work within the University deadline, and will often receive it more quickly. The purpose of feedback is to inform your future work; it is designed to help you to improve your work, and the Department also offers you help in learning from your feedback. If you do not understand your feedback or want to talk about your ideas further you can discuss it with your tutor or your supervisor, during their Open Office Hours
- For more information about the feedback you will receive for your work, see the department's Guide to Assessment
Indicative reading
- Homer, Odyssey (selections)
- Lucian, A True History
- Heliodorus, Aethiopica (selections)
- Spenser, Faerie Queene Book 3
- Rabelais, Fourth Book (selections)
- Montaigne, Essais (selections)
- Shakespeare (and Wilkins), Pericles
- Wroth, Urania (selections)
- Milton, Paradise Lost (selections)
- Swift, Gulliver’s Travels
- Selections from various historical travel narratives (Marco Polo, Columbus, Sandys, etc.)